Prince Harry’s US visa row heads back to court

Harry’s immigration documents will once again be under scrutiny next month when the legal battle to publicly reveal them reignites.

IN LONDON

Prince Harry’s immigration records are set to once again go under the microscope in the US.

Conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation first launched the legal action last year, suing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to get the Duke of Sussex’s visa application made public in order to see if he disclosed his past drug use, which he had written about in his 2023 memoir, Spare.

In September, a judge ruled that his US visa would stay private – but a federal judge has now ordered that Harry and Heritage, authors of the controversial Project 2025 document for conservative government, appear in court in Washington DC early next month for a legal challenge.

Harry’s admission in his book that he had experimented with cocaine, cannabis and psychedelic mushrooms would likely have also needed to be disclosed on his application forms when he moved from the UK to the US in 2020.

A judge ruled last year that Harry’s visa records should remain private. Picture: Carl Court/Getty Images

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The Heritage Foundation is lobbying to find out whether he omitted that information, or received preferential treatment during the process.

US government lawyers have maintained that releasing the documents would violate Harry’s privacy rights.

The new court appearance will mark the first since Donald Trump’s return to the White House, and comes after he previously indicated he would support “appropriate action” being taken if it was found that the duke had lied on his application.

“We’ll have to see if [DHS] know something about the drugs, and if he lied they’ll have to take appropriate action,” he said in March last year.

Trump has been urged to intervene in the case by the Heritage Foundation. Picture: Mandel Ngan/AFP

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Mr Trump had also previously declared he “wouldn’t protect” Harry if given the choice.

“He betrayed the Queen. That’s unforgivable. He would be on his own if it was down to me,” he said in early 2023.

The Heritage Foundation has since publicly urged Mr Trump to intervene in the case, suggesting it is an issue of “accountability”.

“I’ll be urging the president to release Prince Harry’s immigration records and the president does have that legal authority to do that,” Nile Gardiner, director of the Heritage Foundation’s Margaret Thatcher Centre for Freedom, told the New York Post.

“It’s important because this is an issue of the rule of law, transparency and accountability. No one should be above the law.

“Donald Trump is ushering in a new era of strict border control enforcement, and you know, Prince Harry should be held fully to account as he has admitted to extensive illegal drug use.

“My firm expectation is that action will be taken.”

Originally published as Prince Harry’s US visa row heads back to court